The present invention is directed to an aerial applicator and more specifically to an aerial applicator for adhesively coating flakes containing an insect control substance immediately prior to dispensing the flakes from the airborne apparatus.
The use of pheromones for insect control is an emerging technology having enormus potential. As an alternative to insecticides, pheromone products can be used to suppress populations of destructive insects in both field and forest applications. Pheromones have numerous advantages over conventional insecticides. Most important, they are non-toxic and each is specific to only a particular species of insect.
Pheromones are natural chemical substances released by insects for communication purposes, including sex attractant pheromones used by the female insect to lure a mate of the same species. The pheromones used for insect control are synthetically produced copies of these chemicals released by the insects. Aerially applied dispensers in the form of tiny plastic flakes serve as point sources of the synthetic pheromones. the pheromones are then released at a controlled rate from the flakes to attract and confuse the adult male insects preventing them from locating and mating with eligible females. Unwanted insect populations can be safely and effectively reduced through this technique of mating disruption.
The use of aerial dispensers for particulate material is old and well known in the art as evidenced by the Pelton U.S. Pat. No. 1,749,504, the Smith et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,896 and the Barlow U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,793. In each of these patents, the particulate material is gravity fed through a bottom opening in a hopper and transported to a dispensing chamber by means of a rotary auger. It is also known in the art to assist the distribution of the material being dispensed by means of a rotary impeller disposed adjacent the outlet of the aerial dispenser. The rotary impeller can be driven by means of a motor as in the abovementioned Smith et al patent or may be driven by a propeller which is rotated by the passage of air as in the Robertson U.S. Pat. No. 2,056,296.
In the mixing art, the use of helical ribbon-type mixing blades in an elongated cylindrical mixing chamber is also old and well known as evidenced by the Attwell U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,919. While Attwell also discloses the addition of a liquid through a radial port for mixing with particulate matter, the mixing results in a viscous mass such as wet concrete which is forced outwardly through a radial passage, the opposite ends of the mixing chamber being closed.